The first day back
by TheVerySpecialOne
Summary: Montgomery died at the age of five, at the hands of a werewolf. When he seems to get a Hogwarts letter at home, the Montgomery sisters are surprised. Hogwarts doesn't make mistakes.


This is written for the quidditch league, for Appleby arrows, as chaser 1 . I had the following prompt:

First day at Hogwarts

optional promts:

(quote) No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit. Helen Keller(quote) A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. John Barrymore(Word) galloping

The sky was getting darker and darker with every passing minute. You could no longer hear the small birds singing their songs, but instead an orchestra of crickets played together and provided a soothing sound for the Montgomery sisters. They were both silent, sat on the small leather couch in the middle of the room. There was no need for words between them on days like this.

They finished their working hours and the house chores. Thee was nothing left to distract them from their thoughts. The grief wasn't as strong now, after so many years, but today was supposed to be a special day.

Today Alexander Montgomery, dead 6 years prior, had his first day at Hogwarts.

A few months earlier, a letter arrived. Both Adelaide and Helen were shocked to find it at the door. He would've ran inside and ripped the envelope apart, then thrown it wherever he could before galloping to the middle of the living room and reading the letter aloud for all of us to hear. Such an excitable child, he was. But he wasn't there to receive it. So they put it to one side and tried to ignore it.

A few days later, it disappeared. They didn't give it much thought, and continued with their normal routine.

It was only a week later when they realised what had happened, and only after Alexander had shown himself to them. As it turns out, he was here all along. Still dead, but alive at the same time. He was a ghost. Normally, they were quite happy when they first found out that their little brother was still around, and that they could still spend time with him. And then, they realised that he will never be able to move on.

Still, there was a small, selfish spark of hope.

According to the Hogwarts letter, Alexander was an honorary student, and the first non-living student in 300 years. They were all very happy to be part of his experience. They accompanied him to the train, discussing excitedly the changes that happened since they left. Since he was no longer a wizard, he would not be able to take spell-dependent classes such as transfiguration, or charms. Therefore he will have quite a lot of free time, so they advised to do school work in the free hours during school and then just chill afterwards.

King's cross hasn't changed in the past 4 years. Muggles were still oblivious to the war that took place right in front of them. Small rays of sun came through the glass ceiling, lighting up the entire building. The small group made their way to platform 9, and then through the wall to platform 9 3/4. Children of all ages ran around, talking to friends, saying goodbye to families; it was a hurricane of colors. Adelaide turned around, tears in her eyes, and smiled at Alexander.

"Be good, yeah?" She said, a sad glimmer in her eyes. If she could, she would've hugged him; due to his transparent, ghostly appearance, she couldn't. "Remember, always look at the bright side of things. Because, as you well know by now, no pessimist discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or.."

"Or opened a new heaven to the human spirit. "Alexander finished his sister's quote in a monotone voice. "You told me that at least a hundred times by now. I'll be fine. I promise."

They all stood there for a minute, just looking at eachother.

"You better go, then. Don't want to be late on your first day, do you?" Helen asked, as she saw most of the children get in the train. Alexander looked at her incredulously.

"I could just fly there if I wanted to, you know? I'd be a lot quicker. " he argued, and then, after a pause, said: " but I don't really know the way, so I guess you're right." He shrugged, and then floated inside the train, away from his sisters. Helen turned to her sibling and hugged Adelaide tightly. Her sister hugged back, and sighed, he eyes still closed in on the train.

Now, as they were wondering how their dead brother was doing, none spoke. They watched the fire crackle in the fireplace, oranges and reds dancing together in a total harmony. Helen slowly got up, and glided to the small bookshelf, from where she took out a worn out book, then sat back down. Her eyes scanned each paragraph, the images playing in her head at the memory of the story. She's read it countless times before, and it always took her mind off things. She never knew how to handle things like these. There was a conflict going on inside her that she was sure was happening within Adelaide's thoughts as well.

If her brother came back as a ghost, that means he was too scared, and very willing to live, even after his body gave in to the sweet release of death. This was something that plagued her thoughts since they found out, and often visited her nightmares. Many times she's dreamt of how Alexander died, all alone in the hospital. How, before that, he was almost ripped to pieces between a werewolf's teeth and claws, all that was left of him was will will to live and the few unbroken bones in his body. She made peace with the idea that she won't see him grow up five years ago, and now, all the walls she put in place were shattered when he first materialised before her.

Her eyes skimmed over her favourite line in the book as she realised that, actually, her brother will never fully grow up. He will remain a child forever. She read the line again.

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.

She knew that, even at this relatively young age, she was old.


End file.
